Financial reporting: The heart of the issue

In
December 2008, the GAA published its report Getting to the heart of the issue –
Can financial reporting be made simpler and more useful which was based on a
series of interviews conducted in 2008 with financial regulators from the UK,
Canada, China, the United States of America, South Africa, France, the European
Commission as well as international regulators.

Interviewees
also included a leading US litigation lawyer and representatives of the world's
leading accounting and auditing practices.

The
research was undertaken to consider the barriers to the implementation of a
more principles based accounting regime, and the increasing complexity and
detail in company financial statements. ICAS is pleased to have led this
project for the GAA, through David Wood, Executive Director, Technical Policy,
chairing the Project Team and undertaking a number of the interviews.